|
Buck Found a Buck
I have a friend
whose husband is an avid deer hunter. He has pictures and
mountings to show for his hobby. They eat deer steaks, deer
sausage and ground deer meat all year long. He only hunts
during deer season of course, and I have shamed him for even
that. I have never been able to understand how anyone can
put down a deer. Though I know our land would be over run
with the gentle animals were it not for deer season. I must
say though, he did redeem himself in my eyes the other day.
Pictures speak a
thousand words they say. My friend came by the house like a
new mom with baby pictures. She had snap shot after snap
shot of the new little one. The baby was beautiful! She had
pictures of both her and her husband holding him. I must say
though there was no family resemblance. The baby was the
sweetest looking fawn you could ever hope to see.
My friend and her
husband live in a wooded area at the edge of town and often
see deer on their property. They even place salt blocks out
for them and never hunt or allow hunting on their own
personal acreage. Her husband came out their back door the
other day and heard the faint sound of a baby deer.
They are animal
lovers and own two dogs. One is a Dash Hound the other a
Foxhound. Buck, the Fox Hound has the run of their land. He
is a gentle and loving creature. Sammy, the Dash Hound is a
feisty little fellow with a few stories of his own.
After hearing the
sound of the fawn my friends husband looked up; there came
his dog Buck with the fawn. He was carrying him gently by
the nap of his neck, much like a mother dog carrying her
puppies. Upon seeing his master he dropped the fawn and it
ran immediately to my friend??™s husband. It was the first
time he had ever had a deer run to his waiting arms. He was
surprised and pleased. They felt their dog Buck had found
the fawn abandoned by its mother and brought it to the
safety of his master.
They immediately
called another friend who is licensed to care for orphaned
or deer in need. In the mean time they took it inside and
tried feeding it a formula from a bottle. They estimated it
to be perhaps 2-4 days old. It still had wobbly legs and
demonstrated its walking ability on their kitchen floor. The
pictures showed a perfect fawn with spots on his back and
more legs than body. My friend kicked in her motherly
instincts, rocking and mothering it.
When professional
help arrived he brought with him a bottle of specially
formulated nourishment the fawn quickly partook of. He took
the fawn, which was determined upon investigating would grow
up to be a buck, home to nourish until he could be released
again into the wild. How appropriate that the little buck
was rescued by Buck the family dog.
Those pictures I
am sure will be hung among his trophies as one of his most
prized. He never even had to use a shotgun or a bow and
arrow; just a little help from Buck the dog.
?© 2002 by Betty King
--------------------------------------
Betty
King has a book just released by her publisher, It Takes Two
Mountains to Make Valley. Visit her website at
www.betty.newsmoose.com. or email her at
Baking2@charter.net |
